Method for aromatizing soluble coffee

ABSTRACT

A process for aromatizing soluble coffee products has been developed wherein coffee aromas are added to a liquid glyceride carrier, such as oil, solidified, such as by freezing, comminuted and then blended with soluble coffee. According to a preferred embodiment of this invention carbohydrate solids, such as coffee solids are added to the oil prior to adding the aroma.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Soluble coffee powders are normally deficient in the aromas found infresh roasted and ground coffee due to loss of aromas during theproduction of the soluble coffee, especially during the dryingoperation. Previous attempts at replacing the aromas lost during theproduction of soluble coffee products have been disclosed in the priorart such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,148,070 issued to Mishkin et al. and2,947,634 issued to Feldman et al. Both these patents teach theproduction of an aromatized oil which is then spray plated onto thesurface of soluble coffee products. This spray plating step, however,results in a considerable loss of aromatics and the retention of thespray plated aroma, which is solely on the surface of the soluble coffeeproduct, is not particularly great.

It would be desirable to aromatize soluble coffee products by a processwhich does not lose significant amounts of volatiles during thearomatization process and which stabilizes the aromatized coffee productsuch that significant amounts of aroma are retained by the product evenwhen subjected to prolonged exposure to room conditions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

By means of this invention, it has been found that a soluble coffeeproduct may be aromatized, that is provided with the pleasant coffeearoma which is detected upon initially opening a can of roasted andground coffee. According to this invention, coffee aromas containingnatural and/or synthetic volatile aromatic compounds are combined with aliquid carrier such as an oil. This aromatized carrier is thensolidified or frozen by lowering the temperature to below the congealingor freezing point of the carrier and the solid material is comminuted toa desired particle size distribution. This particulate material is thenthroughly blended with a soluble coffee such as conventional spray driedor freeze dried coffee. It has been found that when the uniformlyblended particles of frozen aromatized carrier are held at roomtemperature or above liquefication occurs and the aromatized carrierplates or spreads over the surface of the soluble coffee particles.

As a preferred embodiment of this invention it has been found thatincreased stability and/or retention of the aromas is obtained ifcarbohydrate solids are combined with the glyceride carrier prior toadding the aromas. This process further eliminates loss of aromaticssince the aroma is apparently fixed in a glyceride-solids "complex." Ithas additionally been found that the presence of soluble solids in thearomatized glyceride facilitates the formation of a frozen materialwhich is relatively hard and which is readily comminuted in conventionalgrinding equipment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Soluble coffee products are aromatized according to this invention in amanner such that large amounts of aromas are not lost during thearomatization process, and, according to a preferred embodiment of thisinvention the aromas are further stabilized such that they will tend toremain with the soluble coffee product even after the product has beenrepeatedly exposed to room conditions.

According to this invention natural and/or synthetic aromas are combinedwith a liquid, preferably an oil, carrier, solidified, comminuted andblended with a soluble coffee product.

Typical of the aromas which are useful for aromatizing soluble coffeeproducts are the aromas obtained from roaster and grinder gases and thecondensates obtained from the steam distilled volatile aromas describedin U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,562,206 to Nutting, 3,132,947 to Mahlmann, 3,148,070to Mishkin et al., 3,244,521 to Clinton et al., 3,421,901 to Mahlmann etal., 3,532,507 to Cascione, and 3,615,665 to White et al., and thevacuum-distilled volatile aromas described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,680,687to Lemonnier and 3,035,922 to Mook et al.

Suitable for use as the carrier are the glycerides such as triacetin,coffee oil and the bland-tasting vegetable oils such as cottonseed oil,coconut oil and like fatty materials. The carrier should be chosen suchthat it does not detract from the aroma of or impart off-flavors to thesoluble coffee product, does not effect the solubility of the solublecoffee product and has a storage stability at least equal to the solublecoffee. The glyceride is preferably a liquid under normal conditions sothat heat will not be required either during blending of the aromas withthe glyceride or in order to have the aromatized solid particles meltand spread over the surface of the soluble coffee particles.

The liquid glyceride and aromas may be combined by gently mixing thecondensed aromas with the glyceride or by adsorbtion of the aroma by theglyceride. Preferably this step should take place at reducedtemperatures in order to minimize loss of aroma.

As previously mentioned, carbohydrate solids may be contained within thearoma-glyceride mixture in order to obtain an aroma-glyceride-solids"complex" which will increase the stability of the aromas both duringprocessing and during subsequent storage and use of the aromatizedsoluble coffee product. Soluble coffee solids are the preferred type ofsoluble solids since the addition of non-coffee material is avoided;however, other water-soluble or water-dispersible carbohydrates such ashydrolyzed cereal solids, dextrins, gum arabic and the like may also beemployed. Addition of even a small amount of these solids has proven tobe beneficial; however, normally when the solids are added to theglyceride they will be added in the amount of at least 10% by weight ofthe glyceride component and preferably up to the point where the solidsare no longer readily dispersed in the glyceride, usually about 40%.

According to this invention the glyceride, either with or without addedsolids, is aromatized and then is cooled to at or below the point atwhich it becomes solid and rendered suitable for communication.Preferably the aromatized glyceride is frozen to such a low temperature,such as by contacting it with liquid nitrogen, that the frozen materialis capable of being ground in conventional grinding equipment.

The frozen and comminuted or ground particles are next added to andthroughly blended with soluble coffee powder such as that obtained fromconventional spray drying, freeze drying or agglomeration processes. Asthe frozen particles melt the aromatized oil spreads or plates thesurface of adjacent particles of soluble coffee producing an aromatizedcoffee product. Also it has been found that additional soluble coffeeparticles become attached to the oil wetted particles forming a shell oragglomerate which provides added protection for the aromas.

This invention is further illustrated but not limited by the followingexample.

EXAMPLE

Grinder gas obtained from conventional Gump grinding of fresh roastedcoffee is condensed as a frost at liquid nitrogen conditions. Two partsby weight of this condensed frost is blended with a mixture of one partof expressed coffee oil and one part of spray dried coffee solids. Thisblend is then quickly frozen in liquid nitrogen and the resulting solidis ground through a 40 U.S. mesh screen. These frozen particles are thenblended with spray dried coffee powder at a level of 1.5% by weight ofthe spray dried coffee. The blend was permitted to come up to ambienttemperature and was packaged under an inert atmosphere in glasscontainers. The thus prepared spray dried coffee products are found topossess preferred jar aromas as compared to comparable samples which arespray plated with an equivalent amount of grinder gas in oil in terms ofboth initial impact after prolonged storage and aroma retention duringin use conditions.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed is:
 1. A method forproducing an aromatized soluble coffee product comprising the stepsof:a. combining coffee grinder gas aroma and water-soluble or waterdispersible carbohydrate solids with a liquid glyceride, thecarbohydrate solids being present at from 10 to about 40% by weight ofthe glyceride, b. cooling the aromatized glyceride-carbohydrate materialto a solid state, c. comminuting the solidified aromatizedglyceride-carbohydrate material, d. blending the comminuted particleswith a soluble coffee powder, e. permitting the blend to warm to atleast room temperature whereby liquefaction of the solidified aromatizedglyceride-carbohydrate material occurs and the aromatized liquid spreadsover the surface of the soluble coffee powder.
 2. The method accordingto claim 1 wherein the aromatized glyceride is solidified by freezingand comminuted by grinding.
 3. The method according to claim 4 whereinthe carbohydrate solids are soluble coffee solids.
 4. The methodaccording to claim 3 wherein the carbohydrate solids are added to theglyceride prior to adding the grinder gas aroma.